1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique suitably applicable to a reading/printing apparatus and a reading apparatus accommodated in a housing having a predetermined outer shape.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional facsimile apparatus 5000 often uses a hierarchical structure as shown in a cross-sectional view of FIG. 38. That is, a control board 1500 is disposed on the inner bottom surface of a housing 1100 constituting the outer surfaces. A power supply 1600 is disposed behind the control board 1500. A printing sheet table on which a printing sheet S is set is arranged above the control board 1500. A printer unit 1400 having a platen roller 1401 for changing the direction of the printing sheet toward the front of the apparatus is arranged on the control board 1500. An original reading unit 1300 having an operation panel is disposed on the front side of the upper surface of the housing. An original G is moved toward the front side of the apparatus and read. Many facsimile apparatuses having this arrangement are put into practical use. This hierarchical structure eliminates unnecessary spaces.
To disassemble a finished conventional apparatus to perform repair or the like, an upper cover 1200 is removed from a lower cover of the housing 1100, and each unit inside the housing is removed. The upper and lower covers and the individual units are removed by loosening a large number of machine screws fixing these components.
In the above conventional arrangement, however, the individual units are so assembled as to form a hierarchical structure. This significantly deteriorates the facility with which each unit is assembled and maintained. Additionally, since wires from the control board are connected by using connectors, the individual units must be fixed to the housing in order.
Also, it is preferable to shorten the wires from the control board because long wires cause easy entrance of noise. However, the wires are extended in the above conventional arrangement because the control board is positioned on the bottom surface.
More specifically, the units are fixed in order from the control board 1500, and the steps of fixing and connecting the units to the power supply 1600 are performed in order. This significantly deteriorates the facility with which each unit is assembled and maintained.
Also, the use of a large number of machine screws and the like complicates the assembly steps. Consequently, it is impossible to simplify the product manufacturing steps and increase the number of products. The resulting problems pointed out are the difficulty of cost reduction and the necessity of an extra repair time. That is, the hierarchical structure is surely effective in eliminating unnecessary spaces, but this structure is not suited to perform so-called mass-production for cost reduction.
On the other hand, to manufacture a derivative type of apparatus by slightly modifying some units and directly using other units constituting the above apparatus, the housing of the conventional arrangement must be redesigned. Accordingly, it is necessary to prepare an enormous designing time and a manufacturing installation including metal molds for manufacturing the housing.
The present invention, therefore, has been made in consideration of the aforementioned problems, and has as its object to provide a reading/printing apparatus and a reading apparatus by which the facility with which each unit is assembled and maintained can be significantly improved because steps of fixing and connecting individual units need not be performed in order.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a reading/printing apparatus by which the manufacturing cost can be decreased by simplifying the product manufacturing process by using no machine screws and the repair time can be shortened.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a reading/printing apparatus in which individual units can be fixed to a housing in no special order to connect wires from a control board by using connectors and the steps of connecting the wires from the control board need not be performed in order, and which is made unaffected by noise by shortening the wires from the control board because long wires cause easy entrance of noise.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a reading/printing apparatus which obviates the need to prepare an enormous designing time and a manufacturing installation including metal molds for manufacturing a housing in manufacturing a derivative type of apparatus by slightly modifying some units and directly using other units constituting the apparatus.
To solve the above problems and achieve the objects, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reading/printing apparatus characterized in that a housing comprises a first housing having a base portion serving as a bottom surface, side walls serving as outer surfaces, and an opening surrounded by the side walls, and a second housing covering the opening and having side walls, and the second housing is fixed to the first housing by elastic deformation so as to cover the opening.
According to another aspect, there is provided a reading/printing apparatus comprising an original convey type reading apparatus for reading an original while conveying the original and a serial printing type printing apparatus for performing printing by scanning a printing unit in a main scan direction while scanning a printing sheet in a sub-scan direction, characterized in that a housing comprises a first housing having a base portion serving as a bottom surface, side walls serving as outer surfaces, and an opening surrounded by the side walls, the original convey type reading apparatus and the serial printing type printing apparatus being separately fixed to the first housing, and a second housing covering the opening and having side walls, and the second housing is fixed to the first housing by elastic deformation so as to cover the opening.
According to still another aspect, there is provided a reading/printing apparatus in which a reading apparatus, a printing apparatus, and a control board are disposed in a housing, characterized in that the reading apparatus, the printing apparatus, and the control board are discretely constituted, the reading apparatus is so disposed that one side surface of the reading apparatus is substantially parallel with one opposing side surface of the housing, the printing apparatus is so disposed that one side surface of the printing apparatus is substantially parallel with another opposing side surface of the housing, and the control board is disposed in an upright position on a side surface connecting the one side surface and another side surface of the housing.
According to still another aspect, there is provided a reading/printing apparatus in which a reading apparatus, a printing apparatus, and a control board are disposed in a housing, characterized in that the reading apparatus, the printing apparatus, and the control board are discretely constituted, the reading apparatus is so disposed that a longitudinal direction of the reading apparatus is substantially parallel with a front surface of the housing, the printing apparatus is so disposed that a longitudinal direction of the printing apparatus s substantially parallel with a rear surface of the housing, and the control board is disposed in an upright position so as to be substantially parallel with a right or left side surface of the housing.
According to still another aspect, there is provided a reading/printing apparatus in which an original convey type reading apparatus for reading an original while conveying the original, a serial printing type printing apparatus for performing printing by scanning a printing head in a main scan direction while scanning a printing sheet in a sub-scan direction, and a control board are disposed in a housing, characterized in that the original convey type reading apparatus, the serial printing type printing apparatus, and the control board are discretely constituted, the original convey type reading apparatus is so disposed that one side surface of the original convey type reading apparatus is substantially parallel with one opposing side surface of the housing, the serial printing type printing apparatus is so disposed that one side surface of the serial printing type printing apparatus is substantially parallel with another opposing side surface of the housing, and the control board is disposed in an upright position on a side surface connecting the one side surface and another side surface of the housing.
According to still another aspect, there is provided a reading/printing apparatus in which an original convey type reading apparatus for reading an original while conveying the original, a serial printing type printing apparatus for performing printing by scanning a printing head in a main scan direction while scanning a printing sheet in a sub-scan direction, and a control board are disposed in a housing, characterized in that the original convey type reading apparatus, the serial printing type printing apparatus, and the control board are discretely constituted, the original convey type reading apparatus is so disposed that a longitudinal direction of the original convey type reading apparatus is substantially parallel with a front surface of the housing, the serial printing type printing apparatus is so disposed that a longitudinal direction of the serial printing type printing apparatus is substantially parallel with a rear surface of the housing, and the control board is disposed in an upright position so as to be substantially parallel with a right or left side surface of the housing.
According to still another aspect, there is provided a reading/printing apparatus in which a reading apparatus, a printing apparatus, a control board, and a power supply are disposed inside a housing obtained by integrally forming a base portion serving as a bottom surface, side walls serving as outer side surfaces, and an opening surrounded by the side walls, characterized in that the reading apparatus, the printing apparatus, the control board, and the power supply are discretely constituted, the housing comprises a first housing integrally formed with enough strength to separately fix the base portion, lower portions of the side walls, the reading apparatus, the printing apparatus, the control board, and the power supply, and a second housing covering the opening and integrally forming upper portions of the side walls, and the second housing is fixed to the first housing by elastic deformation so as to cover the opening of the first housing.
According to still another aspect, there is provided a reading/printing apparatus in which an original convey type reading apparatus for reading an original while conveying the original, a serial printing type printing apparatus for performing printing by scanning a printing unit in a main scan direction while scanning a printing sheet in a sub-scan direction, a control board, and a power supply are disposed inside a housing obtained by integrally forming a base portion serving as a bottom surface, side walls serving as outer side surfaces, and an opening surrounded by the side walls, characterized in that the original convey type reading apparatus, the serial printing type printing apparatus, the control board, and the power supply are discretely constituted, the housing comprises a first housing integrally formed with enough strength to separately fix the base portion, lower portions of the side walls, the original convey type reading apparatus, the serial printing type printing apparatus, the control board, and the power supply, and a second housing covering the opening and integrally forming upper portions of the side walls, and the second housing is fixed to the first housing by elastic deformation so as to cover the opening of the first housing.
According to still another aspect, there is provided a reading apparatus in which a reading unit, a control board, and a power supply are disposed inside a housing obtained by integrally forming a base portion serving as a bottom surface, side walls serving as outer side surfaces, and an opening surrounded by the side walls, characterized in that the reading unit, the control board, and the power supply are discretely constituted, the housing comprises a first housing integrally formed with enough strength to separately fix the base portion, lower portions of the side walls, the reading unit, the control board, and the power supply, and a second housing covering the opening and integrally forming upper portions of the side walls, and a different type of the reading unit can be attached to and replaced with respect to the housing.
According to still another aspect, there is provided a reading apparatus in which a reading unit, a control board, and a power supply are disposed inside a housing obtained by integrally forming a base portion serving as a bottom surface, side walls serving as outer side surfaces, and an opening surrounded by the side walls, characterized in that the reading unit, the control board, and the power supply are discretely constituted, the housing comprises a first housing integrally formed with enough strength to separately fix the base portion, lower portions of the side walls, the reading unit, the control board, and the power supply, and a second housing covering the opening and integrally forming upper portions of the side walls, and the control board can be replaced with respect to the housing.
According to still another aspect, there is provided a reading/printing apparatus in which a reading unit, a printing unit, a control board, and a power supply are disposed inside a housing obtained by integrally forming a base portion serving as a bottom surface, side walls serving as outer side surfaces, and an opening surrounded by the side walls, characterized in that the reading unit, the printing unit, the control board, and the power supply are discretely constituted, the housing comprises a first housing integrally formed with enough strength to separately fix the base portion, lower portions of the side walls, the reading unit, the printing unit, the control board, and the power supply, and a second housing covering the opening and integrally forming upper portions of the side walls, and a different type of the reading unit can be attached to and replaced with respect to the housing.
According to still another aspect, there is provided a reading/printing apparatus in which a reading unit, a printing unit, a control board, and a power supply are disposed inside a housing obtained by integrally forming a base portion serving as a bottom surface, side walls serving as outer side surfaces, and an opening surrounded by the side walls, characterized in that the reading unit, the printing unit, the control board, and the power supply are discretely constituted, the housing comprises a first housing integrally formed with enough strength to separately fix the base portion, lower portions of the side walls, the reading unit, the printing unit, the control board, and the power supply, and a second housing covering the opening and integrally forming upper portions of the side walls, and the control board can be replaced with respect to the housing.
According to still another aspect, there is provided a reading/printing apparatus in which a reading unit, a printing unit, a control board, and a power supply are disposed inside a housing obtained by integrally forming a base portion serving as a bottom surface, side walls serving as outer side surfaces, and an opening surrounded by the side walls, characterized in that the reading unit, the printing unit, the control board, and the power supply are discretely constituted, the housing comprises a first housing integrally formed with enough strength to separately fix the base portion, lower portions of the side walls, the reading unit, the printing unit, the control board, and the power supply, and a second housing covering the opening and integrally forming upper portions of the side walls, and the control unit can be replaced with respect to the housing.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.